A petition against the Government’s proposals to sell off some state-owned assets proved popular in the Eastern Bay.

Green party MP Jan Logie and her supporters were in Whakatane on Friday, drumming up support against the planned, partial sell-off of Mighty River Power, Genesis Energy, Meridian Energy, Solid Energy and Air New Zealand.
“It is going really well,” Ms Logie said when the Beacon caught up with her. “We got more than 200 signatures in Kawerau this morning, in one hour.”

The team had also collected 700 signatures in Rotorua on Thursday.
Ms Logie said signatures were being collected all over the country, with their partners also helping out.

“If we get enough signatures a citizens-initiated referendum will have to be held,” she said. “While such a referendum wouldn’t be binding, it will put pressure on the Government.”

Ms Logie said 10 per cent of the voting population would need to sign the petition for the referendum to be instigated.
“We are aiming for 350,000 signatures, having some margin to cater for invalid signatures.”

So far, the Green party had collected 35,000 signatures in one month, Ms Logie said.

An alliance of community groups, led by Grey Power and backed by the Labour and Green parties, took the first steps towards the Citizens-Initiated Referendum on partial asset sales in March.